Hydroponics, Poison Apple, Doll
by Alphabet Pie
Summary: They have brought back, complete, their hearts returned for an experiment. But only if they can use them correctly... and where is the sense in loving the man who ordered you dead? 411.
1. Hydroponics, Poison Apple

"Hydroponics," Vexen noted, almost absent in his manner as he picked his way through the foot deep pool of water that was Marluxia's new bedroom project. "Interesting, perhaps, but hardly practical."

Marluxia shrugged emotionlessly.

"It is but a mere experiment. You of all people should empathise, surely,"

"Maybe, but not in my bedroom," Vexen sniffed, studying his sworn enemy in silence.

Marluxia was an attractive man, that he couldn't refute. The Nobody was as gorgeous as he was dangerous, and that was very. And yet, there was an underlying cruelty to everything that Marluxia said, every curving twist to his poisonous lips as he smiled, softly, almost sweetly were it not for the terrible sadistic beast that lay waiting beneath.

Vexen knew it well. He'd known it right from the first time they'd met, when Marluxia had offered to train with him, a few days after his induction to the Organisation. The Graceful Assassin had promised to go easy on him, then had thrashed him to within an inch of his life. And again, asserting his superiority in Castle Oblivion, over and over until Vexen truly believed with his whole being that he was nothing more than a broken toy in the hands of his Lord. And finally, as though this were not enough, he had died at this man's whim.

It was unforgivable, yet here he was, feigning interest in whatever pet project Marluxia had decided to take on this week and emotionless equilibrium as he listened to the other man's soft, songlike baritone fade into the background against the beating of his heart. He'd tried to hate Marluxia, he truly had, but the emotions he felt now didn't care for the past and so it lay unspoken, unsolved, forever.

Marluxia's bed was in the middle of the room, the only furniture there aside from a small table piled with perfectly-ripened fruit. It was raised a few inches too little above the water that covered the rest of the floor. Vexen sat down, numbly, sinking into the soft feather mattress.

"Do help yourself to the fruit," Marluxia commented absentmindedly as he, too, approached the bed.

Vexen hadn't eaten yet that day, and decided to risk a mottled red-green apple. He tossed it in his hands a few times, buying time. Marluxia sat next to him, and gently stroked one soft hand down the side of Vexen's cheek.

"The tears never came, did they," He murmured.

Vexen kept his gaze fixed on the apple in his hands, and did not speak.

"It's a pity, you know," Marluxia continued. "That it has to be like this. If only you'd see sense,"

"There is no sense in loving your captor, torturer and murderer," Vexen replied dully, finally taking a bite of the apple. Every word was infallible logic, and yet, every word was a lie.

"Oh, but they are always watching," Marluxia laughed.

"You should be careful what you say,"

"I shall say whatever I like," Marluxia replied, his voice taking on an almost childish tone.

Vexen realised that he could barely move, and he sank down into the ample bedding that Marluxia had already prepared for the night.

"And one day you shall nullify the results of the experiment and then where shall we be?"

Marluxia still found it within himself to chuckle as he tugged Vexen around to lie completely on the bed, straddling him with gentle ease.

"It was always so much easier without a heart. Don't try to fool yourself," He said kindly.

Vexen kept his eyes on the ceiling as Marluxia leaned down to kiss his neck, unzip his old, heavy coat a little way to reveal pale skin underneath. His body lay limp and useless under Marluxia's touch.

"There has to be some other way than this," He finally whispered, almost hoping that Marluxia wouldn't hear.

"There will be. One day. Once the experiment is over,"

"Once the experiment is over."


	2. Japanese Garden, No More Apple

"I can't take this any more."

Marluxia glanced up from his post on the bed, dropping the incomplete apple that he'd been tossing and turning in his hands for an hour, maybe more.

He smirked, sitting up a little straighter amongst the pillows.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in what happens to your body, dearest Vexen,"

Vexen growled, marching through the clear, drying puddles that littered Marluxia's bedroom. There was a small, ornate and beautifully crafted bridge. He ignored it, stomping through the water, surprising the docile koi.

"Cut the act."

Marluxia narrowed his eyes a little at Vexen's display of annoyance.

"That's dangerous talk," He said, quieter. "They're watching."

"They're always watching," Vexen echoed sourly. "Well, let them watch _this_."

He unzipped his long, leather coat all the way and shrugged it off his shoulders, letting it slide bonelessly into the puddles.

Marluxia stared at the pale, naked creature now standing in the middle of the Japanese Garden that was his bedroom.

"What are you-" He began, but was interrupted.

"I can't take this," Vexen repeated, striding over to climb on the bed, pin Marluxia down to the pillows. "I can't take having to _pretend_ to be a victim, to _pretend_ that I hate you, to pretend that I _don't_ want you, to touch your body, to hold you close, to _kiss_ you, deeply and passionately..."

"Do you want to get us both killed?" Marluxia hissed, pushing Vexen away from him. "Zexion and Lexaeus paid the price for disobeying the rules of the experiment; you know what happened to them!"

Unperturbed, Vexen simply reached back again to pull Marluxia into a furious, desperate kiss.

"I don't care," He insisted, voice muffled by Marluxia's lips and tongue. "I'd rather die than live like _this_,"

"If you weren't so impatient," Marluxia growled, "Then we could have waited the experiment out. We'd have had hearts, to keep! Do you want to ruin it for the both of us?!"

"What is the point of a _heart_," Vexen demanded between furious kisses, desperately clinging to Marluxia as though his life depended on it, "If you don't even l_isten_ to what it's trying to tell you?"

"They'll kill you," Marluxia said again. "They'll kill you, and they'll kill me; God damn you, Vexen! Can't you ever learn to play by the rules of the game?"

But he couldn't deny that it felt _good_ to have Vexen on him like this for once, the scientist not having to fake a desperation to escape every time, to have something back from the lavish affections he always laid on the other man.

"Just humour me, just for tonight," Vexen said, voice softer, expression faltering. "The experiment will never end. I'm going mad. What happens when they come tomorrow happens. But I need this now,"

Marluxia sighed, brushing a stray strand of hair from Vexen's cheek.

"What happens happens," He agreed gently, pulling Vexen closer for another hungry kiss.


End file.
